Tristram Edward Speaker was born April 4, 1888 in Hubbard, Texas. Speaker was one of the greatest offensive and defensive center fielder's in the history of the game. Speaker played for four teams in his Hall of Fame career; the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators, and the Philadelphia Athletics. He is best well known for his days with the Red Sox and Indians though.
Growing up in Texas, Speaker was accustomed to riding horses. Once as a boy, Speaker suffered a fractured right arm in a fall from a horse, forcing him to throw left-handed, which he continued to do throughout his baseball career. In 1905, Speaker played his only year of college baseball, for Fort Worth Polytechnic Institute. His left arm was severely injured that particular year in a football accident, to the extent that surgeons advised amputation. Speaker refused, and fully recovered to become one of baseball's greatest hitters and outfielders, manager of a World Championship team, and the seventh member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
After playing in the minors for a year, Speaker was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1907. He became the every day center fielder in 1909. A year later in 1910, Duffy Lewis and Harry Hooper joined Speaker in the outfield and they would form Boston's "Million Dollar Outfield", one of the finest outfield trios in baseball history. The three won two World Championships in 1912 and 1915 together, but were split up when Speaker was traded to Cleveland in 1916.
Speaker's best season as a Red Sox or any other year of his career came in 1912. Speaker played in every game, leading the American League in doubles with 53, and home runs with ten. He set career highs with 222 hits, 136 runs, 580 at-bats, and 52 stolen bases. He batted .383, a mark he would surpass three times in his career, but his .567 slugging percentage was the highest of his career. Speaker set a major league record when he had three batting streaks of twenty (30,23,22) or more games during the season. His Red Sox also won the pennant and World Series that year to top off his greatest season.
When Speaker was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1916 he basically became a player-manager of the club and was formally named this in 1919. The reason he was traded from Boston the year after he had led them to a championship is because he had a falling-out with Red Sox president J.J. Lannin, who wanted Speaker to take a pay cut from $15,000 to $9,000 after his batting average had fallen to .322; Speaker refused. On April 12, 1916 Lannin dealt Speaker to the Indians for Sam Jones, Fred Thomas, and $50,000. But Cleveland got a steal and four years later it would pay off with Speaker leading the Indians to a World Championship in 1920. Speaker played and managed the Indians for another six years and continued to be one of the best players in the major's during this time. Speaker finished out his career with one season in Washington and another season in Philadelphia, teaming up with Ty Cobb and Connie Mack.
In my opinion, Tris Speaker is the second greatest center fielder in the history of our national past time; behind only the greatest player in the history of baseball, Ty Cobb. Speaker could do any thing as a center fielder. He holds the record for the most unassisted double-plays turned by an outfielder. He would play shallower than any other center fielder with his toes just a few feet from the infield dirt, Speaker could than fly back when a ball was hit to the deepest regions of the outfield and make the catch like it was nothing. Speaker holds the fourth highest batting average in the history of baseball with a .345 lifetime average, behind only Ty Cobb, Joe Jackson, and Rogers Hornsby. Speaker needs to be appreciated more when it comes to naming the greats of the game. I hope you feel the same after reading this and remember the name of Tris Speaker.
